Sheep breeding as a business for a budding farmer
It is beneficial to keep unpretentious pasture animals in the Russian expanses. Sheep breeding as a business for a novice farmer is one of the most promising areas. You can start developing your own business with minimal investment. The sheep does not require large reserves of fodder, is unpretentious, even in winter, pulls out grass from under the snow.
Features of keeping sheep
Sheep are early maturing animals. Sexual maturity in queens occurs at 5-6 months. A herd of lambs for fattening and lambs are grazed and kept separately, cases of sheep at one time, so that the lambs appear in early spring in the entire livestock at once. 1-2 lambs are born, the herd replenishes quickly.
For a novice farmer, sheep breeding as a business is beneficial for many reasons:
- animals are undemanding to conditions of detention;
- low mortality in the herd;
- the livestock is rapidly multiplying due to the natural offspring;
- meat, milk, skin and animal hair are in demand.
Lamb is considered to be environmentally friendly meat, as the sheep are fed with natural feed of plant origin.
The weight gain of young animals is 250-600 grams per day, depending on the breed. By one year, the mass of young animals is 80-90% of the weight of an adult.
The constantly growing warm thick wool on animals warms them in winter and becomes a disaster in summer. Therefore, in the spring, a fleece is removed from each sheep, receiving a valuable product for light industry. There are special breeds of sheep that are bred precisely because of their long, thin wool.
Every adult sheep eats throughout the year;
- herbs and succulent feed - 200-250 kg;
- hay - 150 kg;
- straw - 100 kg;
- concentrates - 100 kg.
Additionally, sheep need mineral supplements and salt. Sheep, animals are clean, they will not eat leftovers from the feeders or drink dirty water from the trough. If you do not walk them every day, even in winter weather, for several hours, the hooves do not grind and the sheep cannot walk, mortality may begin. Sheep breeding in Russia is developed in regions where pasture and herd are available. These are Transcaucasia, Stavropol Territory, Buryatia.
Is sheep breeding profitable at home?
In the personal backyard, sheep are kept for obtaining wool and meat. Clothes and felt boots, covering of yurts are made of wool. Sheep skins have long been used for processing and making outerwear and shoes. If the leather was dressed with wool, then a sheepskin coat or a doha was obtained. In everyday life, the sheep clothed and fed the owner, ate grass, hay and roughage. Modern sheep breeding at home uses meat and animal hair. Milk is used to make a healthy fermented milk drink.
Caring for flocks in summer requires pasture and corral. In winter, it is necessary to have a barn and a warm sheepfold for the queens. The cost of keeping sheep is not burdensome, the meat is tasty and aromatic. Sheep breeding as a business can be started in a backyard.
Business plan "Sheep breeding"
To start a business of raising sheep and producing commercial products, you need to become an individual entrepreneur and draw up a business plan. When planning the conduct of economic activity, it is necessary to calculate the profitability of production and the balance of expenses and income. According to economists, the profitability of sheep breeding is about 20%, which is a good indicator for the agricultural industry.
Sheep breeding, as a business for a novice farmer, allows you to develop production with a small initial capital.
It is necessary to provide a spacious ventilated room for keeping livestock in the winter and providing roughage. The floor in the kennel should be adobe, there is enough light, the feeders are installed above the floor so that the hay is not trampled.
It is important to decide on the breed of sheep for breeding. There are breeds:
- Romanovskaya sheep - the most unpretentious and with large offspring;
- fat-tailed meat - grow quickly, have thick wool and a lot of meat;
- fine wool breeds are bred for wool.
The division is conditional. Fine-wooled sheep also produce meat when slaughtered, and fat-tailed breeds require shearing.